Whenever a pianist anywhere in the world hits... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.
Proverbs 10:7

Whenever a pianist anywhere in the world hits the keys on a “Steinway & Sons” grand piano, the sound experience is owed to Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, who was born on February 22, 1797, in Wolfshagen in the Harz Mountains, Germany. Heinrich began a carpentry apprenticeship at the age of 15. He then went to Goslar, where he worked as an organist and trained as an instrument maker. From 1814 to 1822 he was drafted into military service.

After first making guitars, zithers and mandolins as a sideline, Steinweg soon moved on to building upright pianos and grand pianos. He gave his first table piano to his bride as a wedding present. He built his first grand piano eleven years later in an old laundry room converted into a workshop.

In 1850, Steinweg emigrated to New York with nine of his ten children. Three years later, he set up his own business with three adult sons – from 1854, the company was called “Steinway & Sons”. By using a one-piece cast plate as a frame for the piano strings, Steinweg succeeded in decisively optimising his grand pianos.

Let us take the birthday of the famous piano builder as an opportunity to ask ourselves: What resonance will my name have when my life on earth is over? With what thoughts and feelings will my fellow human beings remember me? Will they miss me because I was characterised by good qualities such as helpfulness, charity, kindness and gratitude? Will I leave marks of blessing from God in the lives of others?

However, we will not succeed in this by our own efforts, but only by the power of a hidden life with God, from whom ultimately all good, all blessing, emanates.

Today’s reading: Deuteronomy 28:1-14 · Galatians 4:12-20